Business Planning

My oldest child, Jane, once said she wished camp could be all year. Naturally, I asked her why, and she said, “We get to do everything at camp — when we hike in the woods, the camp staff tells stories about the plants and trees. It makes it easier to remember them. My camp friends care about me. They want me to make it to the top of the climbing tower. I’m not afraid to do things at camp that I am at school. Camp is happy. I love my camp friends. Grades, clothes, and money do not matter at camp. We see each other for who we really are.”

The products, services, and relationships provided by your bank have a direct impact on your camp’s overall financial success. The needs of each camp are as diverse as the camp industry itself. Your banking needs are directly tied to, or based upon, the type of organization you operate (for-profit or nonprofit), the level of camper growth experienced, the amount of revenue generated, the overall economy in your region, and many other factors. These ten significant bank products, services, and programs will positively impact your camp.

Camp operates as a business, when we all know it is more. In order to focus on what matters at camp, it is crucial that camp operations run without friction. That means adopting the best business practices possible, which will allow you to focus on serving campers and staff in a way that promotes your camp's mission.

On March 4, 2016, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, announced a new initiative to decrease barriers for disadvantaged and under-resourced youth to access America’s public lands and waters through expediting the public lands permit process. Read the Secretary's full press release.

After reviewing the results of the 2015 Enrollment Survey, in general, camps had a good year as enrollment continued to rise. The majority of camps reported at least maintaining the same enrollment numbers compared to 2014, and, in many cases, they were higher. Generally, the camps in the sample were representative of overall ACA membership (231 camp directors responded). The following data, charts, and graphs are based on camp directors’ responses.

On December 18, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus federal spending bill — HR 2029 containing a provision to defund the implementation and enforcement of the President’s 2014 Executive Order 13658. The Executive Order established a minimum wage for contractors of $10.10 for workers on Federal construction and service contracts.

When the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013, it included a number of extensions of small businesses tax incentives that could be utilized by camps. Some of those tax incentives have been extended through 2015. The tax incentives include:

Running a summer camp is a noble endeavor. Summer camps impart skills and values to all types of children. Nevertheless, every summer camp, small or large, private, religious, nonprofit or for-profit, is a business. If a summer camp takes in less money than it spends, it will eventually fail. Not coincidentally, summer camps that run well as businesses are usually effective in executing their mission. The same talents and skills required to run a business—focus, persistence, attention, and intelligence—are also required to run a quality summer program.

American Camp Association

About ACA

The American Camp Association is a community of camp professionals who, for over 100 years, have joined together to share our knowledge and experience and to ensure the quality of camp programs. Because of our diverse 11,000 plus membership and our exceptional programs, children and adults have the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living — lessons that can be learned nowhere else.